From Extractive Platforms to Inclusive Networks

Why the Future of Digital Belongs to Everyone

While reading about how different systems shape the long-term prosperity of nations and the livelihoods of their people, I came across a powerful idea:

The nature of the systems we build—whether inclusive or extractive—determines who benefits from growth and innovation.

It’s not just about policy or economic output. It’s about design: who the rules are written for, and who gets a chance to thrive.

Inclusive institutions are built to distribute power and opportunity. They create fair rules, enable broad participation, and level the playing field. These systems encourage innovation and entrepreneurship across society—not just at the top. As a result, they become engines of sustainable growth, resilience, and widespread wealth creation.

Extractive institutions, on the other hand, concentrate power and resources in the hands of a few. They’re built to exploit, not enable. Over time, such systems stifle innovation, narrow opportunity, and create widespread inequality and discontent.

A classic example was the East India Company—and later, British Crown Rule in India. When the British arrived in the 17th century, India accounted for nearly 25% of global GDP. But over 200 years of extraction—through unfair trade, exploitative taxation, deindustrialization, and dismantling of local governance—India’s share fell to less than 4% by 1947. History is full of examples where extractive systems trap nations in a cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.

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Extractive or Inclusive – Why System Design Is Never Neutral

This thought stayed with me as I reflected on today’s digital platforms.

We often think of platforms—whether for selling, buying, learning, or collaborating—as neutral tools. But they are anything but. Their design reflects a worldview: one that either narrows the path for a few, or opens it up for many. They determine who participates, who benefits, and how value flows. 

Closed Platforms as Extractive Systems

Closed digital platforms—like many dominant e-commerce or gig platforms today—mirror extractive systems in their structure.

They manage both the seller and buyer experience. They decide who gets discovered, how pricing works, what terms are acceptable, and how much value is retained by the business. In return, businesses get access to customers—but often at the cost of autonomy and identity.

Increasingly, we’re seeing these platforms use their privileged position to launch their own white-labeled products, undercutting the very businesses they host. Why? Because they own the data, the relationships, and the rules. That’s the extractive model.

Open Networks as Inclusive Systems

Now contrast this with open, interoperable networks.

These are systems built not to gatekeep, but to enable participation. They offer shared infrastructure—not centralized control. In an open network:

• Small businesses can compete alongside large ones without needing deep pockets.
• Sellers retain control over their pricing, policies, and customer relationships.
• Private data stays private—and isn’t harvested to enrich a select few.
• Innovation happens not just at the center, but at the edges.

Open networks don’t gatekeep—they enable. They distribute power, not concentrate it.

Just like inclusive institutions in society, open digital systems broaden opportunity and distribute value. The result? More robust, resilient, and diverse ecosystems.

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Why Now? A Confluence of Factors

In India, the moment for open digital networks has arrived. The time is ripe for a shift away from extractive platform models. Here’s why:

1. Technological Maturity

Open protocols, decentralized identity systems, and interoperable APIs now make it possible to build networks where businesses and services interact freely—without centralized gatekeepers.

2. Policy and Public Infrastructure

India’s investment in Digital Public Infrastructure—like Aadhaar, UPI, ONDC, and Beckn—signals a national commitment to equitable digital access and decentralized systems.

3. Market Fatigue

Businesses and consumers alike are growing weary of being locked into closed ecosystems that limit choice, restrict autonomy, charge high rents, and operate opaquely. More and more, users are actively seeking alternatives that offer transparency, freedom of choice, and a fairer value exchange.

4. Increasing Platform Abuse

From predatory pricing to data misuse, extractive behaviors are no longer hidden. The cracks are showing—and trust is eroding.

5. Cross-Sector Collaboration

We’re seeing an unprecedented willingness across startups, governments, nonprofits, and technologists to co-create open alternatives that put users and businesses first. Platforms are no longer seen as the sole protagonist.

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An Emerging Alignment: When Old and New Work Together

The shift to open systems isn’t a war between old and new. In fact, we’re witnessing something more powerful: partnerships between traditionally closed players and open infrastructure.

• Uber, once a symbol of closed-loop logistics, now offers its delivery infrastructure as a white-labeled service on ONDC—enabling businesses to access last-mile fulfillment without being bound to the Uber app.
• Delhivery and Shadowfax have integrated into ONDC’s logistics layer, extending broad access to their capabilities without exclusivity.
• Paytm, a previously closed ecosystem, now acts as an ONDC network participant—onboarding sellers and offering a discovery interface.
• Banks like Kotak and IDFC First are supporting buyer-seller verification, payments, and trust infrastructure—without owning the end-user experience.

Together, these examples reflect a growing hybrid model—where legacy players co-create in the open ecosystem and leverage their infrastructure to grow in additive, cooperative and scalable ways.

The platform era isn’t ending. But it’s evolving.

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Closing Thought

Just as inclusive political and economic systems historically powered shared prosperity, inclusive digital networks can enable a more innovative, accessible, and human-centered economy.

India stands at a unique moment—armed with the policy will, technological capability, and entrepreneurial energy to lead this transformation.  The emergence of interoperable digital infrastructure offers Indian businesses a rare chance to experiment, differentiate, and grow—on their own terms.

It’s no longer about what these systems can do for us. It’s about what we can build through them.

It is time for Indian businesses to take advantage of open, inclusive digital systems. But the opportunity isn’t just in asking what these systems can do for them—it lies in imagining what they can build through them to make the digital economy more inclusive and accessible to everyone.